Are You Engaged?

At Woolly Theology this afternoon we talked about 'engagement' -- engaging with God through reading Scripture and/or praying.  Pastor Lee commented that she liked the definition of 'engaged' coined by mechanical engineers:

"To interlock with: mesh; also: to cause (mechanical parts) to mesh <engage the clutch>*

*http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engage



This writer's mind immediately came up with a picture of gears, inter-locking, but in such a way as to enable motion.  If one is engaged with God in prayer or lectio divina (a practice of meditative reading, usually using Scripture), the gears of one's spirit are lubricated by the living Word, and one's life  is able to flow more smoothly and joyfully, even in the face of trials.

On the other hand, if gears are neglected and unused for a period of time, rust and corrosion can set in, such that the gears begin to stick; eventually immobility occurs.  One's spiritual gears may be engaged with each other, but if not meshed with God one's life becomes fixed, stiff and unyielding. One cannot move forward, regardless of how hard one tries.

Are your spiritual gears engaged?

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

-- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)